It was an action-packed weekend in the 2021 World Series of Poker Online on GGPoker as the $20 million guaranteed Main Event wrapped up its starting flights and has played down to a final table. Plus, one of the most-watched events on the schedule, the $10,000 Heads Up Championship) crowned its winner.

Event #27 ($5,000 Main Event Online Championship)
Entries: 4,092
Prize pool: $20,000,000

After 27 Day 1 starting flights resulting in 4,092 total entries, Event #27 ($5,000 Main Event Online Championship) finally got to the business of playing down to a final table. By the time all of the Day 1 entries filled the lobby of Day 2 (with last-chance flights finishing after the start of Day 2) a total of 720 players were battling for a chance at the $2,543,073 first-place prize. In fact, once all the dust had settled, the payouts showed that the top four players would all walk away with seven-figure scores, and for those who made the final nine, a minimum payday of $254,308.

At the end of the day, Brazilian Edson Tsutsumi Jr. emerged as the chip leader and will take 101 big blinds into the final table. Not terribly far behind is Russia’s Aleksei Vandyshev and his 54 million in chips, good for 90 big blinds. Rounding out the top three is longtime U.S. pro Joe Serock who bagged 76 big blinds. The rest of the field will have some catching up to do as the next closest player, Norway’s Espen Jorstad, will return with 33 big blinds, and Dimitrios Farmakoulis will arrive as the short stack, just 15 big blinds to try and spin up.

Main Event Final Table Chip Count

Edson Tsutsumi Jr. – 60,403,591
Aleksei Vandyshev – 54,232,812
Joe Serock – 45,567,634
Espen Jorstad – 19,575,928
Christine Do – 15,918,120
Nikita Kuznetsov – 13,454,800
Dawid Smolka – 13,154,945
Renan Meneguetti – 12,581,552
Dimitrios Farmakoulis – 9,067,144

Event #15 ($10,000 Heads Up Championship)
Entries: 161
Prize pool: $1,561,700

With heads-up poker enjoying a bit of a renaissance over the past 18 months or so, it stands to reason that Event #15 ($10,00 Heads Up Championship) would draw high interest from both players and fans alike. The 161-player field pushed the prize pool to more than $1.5 million with France’s Arthur Conan returning to the final four, first defeating Adrian Mateos in the semi-finals and eventually besting online poker crusher Aleksejs Ponakovs in the finals. For his efforts, Conan earned his first career WSOP gold bracelet and the first-place prize of $466,167. As the runner-up, Ponakovs took home $279,700 and Mateos and fellow semi-finalist Daniel Soltys scored $155,389.

Only 16 of the 161 players made the money, with some of online poker’s biggest names among them. Former #1-ranked pros Niklas Astedt and Sami Kelopuro were joined by Mike ‘SirWatts’ Watson and Super MILLION$ champ Joakim Andersson in the round of 16, all of which earned $31,078. Aliaksei Boika and Germany’s Max Kruse were among those who made it to the quarter-finals, both taking home $62,156.

Event #15 Final Four Results

1. Arthur Conan – $466,167
2. Aleksejs Ponakovs – $279,700
3. Daniel Soltys – $155,389
3. Adrian Mateos – $155,389

Event #24 ($1,050 Bounty Pot Limit Omaha)
Entries: 896
Prize pool: $896,000

Russia’s Dmitry Yurasov bested the 896 runners of Event #24 ($1,050 Bounty Pot Limit Omaha) to lock up $36,224 for first place. He added on $55,487 in total bounties creating a total score of $92,711 and his second career gold bracelet. His first bracelet came back in 2017 when he took down the $10,000 NLHE Six Handed Championship at the WSOP in Las Vegas. Longtime online grinder Ami Barer was denied his first WSOP win by finishing as the runner-up in this one for $33,213 and an additional $36,134 in bounties for a total of $69,347. Finland’s Samuel Saariaho captured the bronze, taking home a total score of $33,630, bounties included.

Event #24 Final Table Results

1. Dmitry Yurasov – $36,224 + $56,487 in bounties
2. Ami Barer – $36,134 + $33,213 in bounties
3. Samuel Saariaho – $28,724 + $4,906 in bounties
4. Daniel Perkusic – $22,805 + $13,926 in bounties
5. David Mzareulov – $18,106 + $15,978 in bounties
6. Fausto Tantillo – $14,375 + $4,688 in bounties
7. Andson Tsang – $9,061 + $7,152 in bounties

Event #25 ($777 LUCKY SEVENS NLH)
Entries: 2,014
Prize pool: $1,486,634

Florida-based pro David Jackson has had plenty of success in his career, one that includes more than $2.7 million in lifetime live earnings, but over the weekend he may have a new headline on his poker resume. Jackson defeated the 2,014-entries of Event #25 ($777 LUCKY SEVENS) to grab his first gold bracelet and $194,178 first-place prize. The win not only gives Jackson a bracelet to go with his WSOP Circuit ring that he earned back in 2017, but now he’s eclipsed more than $1 million in WSOP earnings alone. Romania’s Dumitru Pora finished up in second place, also grabbing a six-figure score of $140,394. China’s Weilin Wang took third place and picked up $101,508 for their efforts.

Event #25 Final Table Results

1. David Jackson – $194,178
2. Dumitru Pora – $140,394
3. Weilin Wang – $101,508
4. Mike Watson – $73,392
5. Lucio Lima – $53,064
6. Ken Okada – $38,366
7. Masakazu Muyamoto – $27,740

Event #26 ($888 CRAZY EIGHTS 8-Handed NLH)
Entries: 2,350
Prize pool: 1,982,460

Romania’s Alex Papazian loves Crazy Eights. Not only did he emerge from the middle of the pack at the final table of Event #26 ($888 CRAZY EIGHTS 8-Handed NLH) to win the $241,127 first-place prize but he also took home his second career gold bracelet. His first WSOP bracelet? That came back in 2017, in Las Vegas, where he won the live $888 Crazy Eights for $888,888. Crazy indeed. Tal Noach was Papazian’s final hurdle in completing the “crazy” feat was outing Ta Noach, who settled for runner-up in this one for $180,818 while Santiago Varela took home $135,594 for third.

Event #26 Final Table Results

Alex Papazian – $241,127
Tal Noach – $180,818
Santiago Varela- $135,594
Christian Nagaki – $101,681
Patrick Mahoney – $76,250
Aleksey Churbanov – $57,180
Nikol Minkov – $42,879
Igor Thiesen – $32,155

Looking Ahead

As the final week of the 2021 WSOP Online speeds to a conclusion, the playing down of the final table of the Main Event – which takes place on September 11 – looms large. In the meantime, players will have a shot at racking up bounties in Event #28 ($2,100 Bounty NLH Championship) and play for large six-figure sums in Event #29 ($1,500 FIFTY STACK NLHE).

Those players who survived the opening flights of Event #32 ($210 WSOP Bounty Double MILLION$) will have a shot at turning their $210 into more than $200,000 when the final day plays out on Sept. 12, the same day Event #32 (The Closer) plays out – giving grinders one last shot at saving their series.